Idle Free Signs Not Cheap

Thursday, April 22, 2010 03:56 AM

Prince George, B.C.- It took more than a dozen phone calls and e-mailed requests, but Opinion 250 has finally received the final bill for the new anti-idle signs that have been placed throughout the City.

The City ordered 300 signs, at a cost of $29 per sign for a total of $8700 + taxes for the sign printing. If both taxes were charged, that would make the purchase price $9744.00

The City of Prince George says it cost $2,999.07 to install 128 signs.

So, the final bill is just under $13,000.00 ($12,743.07 if both taxes were charged on purchase of signs)

The City says the entire program, signs and installation, is being paid for by Natural Resources Canada's "Eco Energy Program." So while it may not be Municipal taxes that paid for the project, the dollars are still tax dollars.

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Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2010 03:56 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: acrider54 on April 22 2010 5:32 AM

Waste of money!

Posted by: whitewater on April 22 2010 5:36 AM

Well if they work and save the environment for our future generations it will be worth it.

Now how about spending the next thirteen thousand on signs that say “No Smoking Crack”.

Posted by: BCRacer on April 22 2010 5:47 AM

considering they aren't enforcing it what is the point.
and one of the worst offenders....
city vehicles....

Posted by: Stompin Tom on April 22 2010 6:40 AM

what happened to our idle fairy in town? Since that story was posted a few months ago, all has been quiet.

Posted by: mythoughts on April 22 2010 6:51 AM

Idle fairy...haha. good one! I idled my truck this morning. Used my remote start which works great. I won't be paying any attention to these signs. What are they going to do, take away my b'day...I wish.

Posted by: lonesome sparrow on April 22 2010 7:24 AM

This money would have been better spent to start to synchronize the traffic lights along the bypass. More pollution is created by the thousands of cars and big rigs having to stop at 5th, 10th, 15th, 22nd and highway 16. By way of comparison idling is a fart in a windstorm.

Posted by: metalman on April 22 2010 8:32 AM

"This money would have been better spent to start to synchronize the traffic lights along the bypass. More pollution is created by the thousands of cars and big rigs having to stop at 5th, 10th, 15th, 22nd and highway 16"
Too right, Lonesome, but I would add that there should not be traffic lights on any main throughfares, under or over passes are the answer, more than pollution would be reduced; wear and tear on the roadway, vehicle brakes, tires would also be reduced, not to mention the fuel savings.
metalman.

Posted by: polar7018 on April 22 2010 9:04 AM

absolutely right lonesome.the time wasted at traffic lights is unreal.set them up once and leave them alone, the traffic will move along.

Posted by: acrider54 on April 22 2010 9:07 AM

lonesome has it right on the money. Most of the lights in PG are not user friendly especially when they go red for through traffic and there is no traffic coming the other way, in fact smoetimes there is not one vehicle pass through the intersection and the light goes through the full cycle of left turns etc. Leaves you scratching your head in wonder. I see the city has played with the lights at 18th and Ospika too.

Posted by: JavaJava75 on April 22 2010 9:44 AM

The worst place (and where we need it the most) is the Tim Horton's on Victoria Street. They really need to close the drive-thru part of the store.

Posted by: He spoke on April 22 2010 9:53 AM

Its not the idle fairy. Its the clean air fairy.

Just imagine the size of the carbon foot print it takes for this signage. The aluminium substrate, the vinyl print, the chemicals used for the adhesives, and the reflectiveness, the cost of the truck (running) to install the signs.

Is it truly a thumbs up event?

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on April 22 2010 10:45 AM

These signs are o.k. to remind people who are already inclined to do the right thing for the environment and not idle their engines when it is not required.

Those who have already made the decision that the environment does not need to be cleaner will think of these signs as a waste of time and money.

Posted by: cougars fan on April 22 2010 6:24 PM

They should find a way for all the computers in the RCMP cruisers to work when the car if off.

That way they would not need to have their cars on all the time.

How are they supposed to write a ticket for having your vehicle running, when they cannot turn their own off???

Posted by: szd on April 22 2010 7:25 PM

Whats really funny is that the volcano and lack of air traffic in the world will have more of an effect than all of the signs we ever put up. Idle away, these kind of rules make everybody feel warm and cosy and self righteous but really amount to squat.

Grounded aircraft worldwide had not emitted the more than 3 million tons of carbon dioxide as of Tuesday that they would have if the flight ban had not been imposed, according to the Environmental Transport Association.

It’s estimated that Eyjafjallajokull spewed about 15,000 tons of CO2 each day during the most powerful phase of its eruption.

Shows you how small an impact our little effort will really have.

Posted by: Runner46 on April 22 2010 9:28 PM

I can`t help but think of the responders to this uninteresting bit of fluff as nothing but Don Quixotes...

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on April 23 2010 7:02 AM

Nothing *uninteresting* about walking into a cloud of exhaust fumes when opening your front door in the morning - a choking mess left by your neighbour's truck idling for 30 minutes so it can *warm up.*

Don.

Posted by: bigmom on April 23 2010 8:36 AM

The sign we all paid for that made me crazy was the fancy sign on the old Kresge building downtown for the H1N1 flu clinics. It was backlit and huge and was only ever supposed to be for a very temporary situation. I wonder where it is now?

And to comment on drive thru lanes, I think they should charge more for the drive thru service to offset the cost to the environment.